KM - How Office ends up Generating Traffic beyond EIR amounts - Example Apple Campus 3

From: KM
Date: Sun, Apr 15, 2018 at 1:03 PM
Subject: How Office ends up Generating Traffic beyond EIR amounts - Example Apple Campus 3
To: Darcy Paul <dpaul@cupertino.org>, rsinks@cupertino.org, savitav@cupertino.org, bchang@cupertino.org, Steven Scharf <sscharf@cupertino.org>

Greetings City Council,

Summary:  AC3 leased space advertised at 6.2 and 6.9 employees per 1000 SF when the EIR studied 3.33 employees per 1000 SF.

Analysis:

The following is a great example of why an office development generates more traffic than expected.  This example is Apple Campus 3.

In Santa Clara County, the common square foot per employee number used is 300 which is 3.33 employees per 1000 SF.  Apple Campus 2, in their EIR used 4.15 employees per 1000 SF determined based on review of some of their other buildings' occupancy.

Apple Campus 3 is leased space at Wolfe and Central in Sunnyvale.

Portion of the EIR may be found here:  https://sunnyvaleca.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1938102&GUID=5C07586E-6753-400F-B4D0-A306EF35509D&Options=&Search=\

Of interest is the total number of employees expected at the 770,000 SF project:  2,500

However, when the project was advertised they suggest a much higher occupancy:

Source:  http://www.centralandwolfe.com/downloads/brochure.pdf

Comparing the number of employees expected in the EIR and the total based on the Central and Wolfe test fit A and B, we can see that nearly double the employees may be on the site, creating a much worse traffic situation than expected!

Central and Wolfe Campus:  Compare Brochure Number of Employees vs. EIR

Office SF	770,000	SF			SF/employee
Test fitA	6.2	employees/1000 SF	4,774	employees	161	nearly doubles occupancy
Test fit B	6.9	employees/1000 SF	5,313	employees	145	doubles occupancy
EIR			2,500	employees
Determine EIR number of employees per 1000 SF	3.25	employees/1000 SF	2,503		308	Note:  close to the 300 SF/employee commonly used

The average employees per 1000 SF in the brochure table is 5, that's a 50% increase over what the county is accepting in the EIRs:  3.33 employees per 1000 SF.  Couple that with significant unavoidable impacts being approved at various locations with an underestimated number of employees and we get gridlock when the public imagines we would have a better outcome...

Enlightening.

Best regards,

Kitty Moore